White's Day Anxiety
by Midnight's Violet Haze
Summary: Trouble in paradise. But what else can you expect when one half of the relationship is Uchiha Sasuke? Acknowledging the world around you doesn't always mean you'll like what you see. :Sixth in the Happy Holidays Series: Modern AU R&R Please


**What can I say? There were exams, then I was sick for two gruesome weeks (actually the being sick thing happened in the middle of exams, which kind of, to put it bluntly, sucked), then there was the whole stress of University applications (I'm applying somewhere that needs them in by October, plus I need to take mandatory, hard-to-locate exams to qualify since it's in another country) that I'm still not over, but enough of my venting, I obviously need to handle stress better and not take it out on my few, very faithful and very APPRECIATED (I swear!), readers.**

**To be honest I had planned to finish this a week ago, when I started writing it, and to be even more honest I'm surprised I actually got it up today, but what can I say, that ever elusive inspiration decided to strike and strike me it did. It's 6AM now and I can finally stop writing, everyone else in the house is waking, but I'm going to be going to sleep, for at least a few hours.**

**To those of you who were bothered by OOC Sasuke, who was very necessary for both overall plot purposes as well as for the fun-ness of the Valentine's oneshot, here -points at story- is your explanation. I'm building up to angst, but I decided to start you off on a cheerful note since that's where I left of (a billion years ago) in the Valentine's oneshot.**

**Diclaimer: Naruto is not mine, because if it was, it would have taken a 3 month long hiatus in between every few episodes/chapters because that's obviously how I roll.**

**Thank you for putting up with my ineptness at updating, please enjoy.**

xxx (line's not working)

White's Day Anxiety

"HOLY SHIT!"

Uchiha Itachi smirked into his mug of coffee.

Making up for all those missed years of brotherly teasing was going to be difficult, but Itachi was up for the challenge.

He calmly set his mug down and waited, absently tracing the red cloud design painted onto the black ceramic surface.

"ITACHI YOU BASTARD!"

He quickly schooled his face back into a blank state before turning to appraise his furious younger brother. Sasuke looked so very cute with yesterday's shirt and bed-head; it was truly difficult to bite back a smile.

"Otouto?" he questioned innocently, "Running a little late, aren't you? Or have the timings of Konoha's high school changed since my days…?"

"STOP TALKING LIKE A REMINISCING OLD MAN WHEN WE BOTH KNOW YOU HAVE THE MATURITY LEVEL OF A TWELVE YEAR OLD!" Sasuke yelled, panting heavily. "YOU TURNED OFF MY ALARM!" he continued, pointing accusingly at his older brother, his rage doubling as Itachi simply took a bite out of his toast.

Itachi blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want some," he asked, gesturing to the toast.

Sasuke puffed his cheeks out much like he used to as a child. "DON'T IGNORE ME DAMMIT! I KNOW YOU DID IT, SAME WITH THE VALENTINE'S DAY THING!"

Itachi smiled at this. "How _was_ Valentine's Day? You came back smiling quite ridiculously; did you finally get over your overwhelming repulsion of girls? I was beginning to worry you would never outgrow that phase…"

Seeing that this was getting him nowhere, Sasuke took a moment to contain his rage. "Forget it," he bit out, "I don't have time for this; I'm already late." He turned to exit as abruptly as he'd entered, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Surprised, he allowed his older brother to spin him around. "So fast.." he whispered, staring up with awe at Itachi. Itachi being, well, himself, paid no attention to the semi-compliment. Instead, he took Sasuke's arm and dropped a white package in his palm. He then looked up at Sasuke's adorably confused face with a smile that Sasuke immediately labeled 'highly suspicious'.

"For that girlfriend that you insist on hiding from me," Itachi explained rather generously.

Sasuke flushed and ducked his head, "I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"It is the fourteenth of March; White's Day," Itachi said, his monotone patronizing in a way only he could pull off successfully, "A day where boys give presents to their girlfriends."

Sasuke bristled. "I know what White's Day is! It's just that you've ruined calendars for me, so I never know what day it is anymore!" he huffed.

Itachi bent down to flick Sasuke in the forehead. "Foolish otouto, did you forget that you still need to get to school?"

Muttering a few choice words, Sasuke rubbed his forehead childishly as he left, but his other hand kept hold of the package.

When he heard the front door slam, Itachi finally straightened. He cleaned up the kitchen table and walked over to the sink, emptying his hands and turning the tap on. As he let the water to run, Itachi also allowed his usually blank eyes to darken with concern.

'_Either Sasuke's personality has not changed since he was seven years old, or my presence has disrupted his life in more ways than I originally thought. I was too…reckless, thinking that just because I had completed my goal and it was safe to return that I could retake my role of older brother without any consequences.'_

He turned the tap off and wiped his hands on the dish towel, eyeing the oven's digital clock as it turned t 10:00. _'I'm worried…'_

Truth be told, Itachi had indeed snuck into his younger brother's room that morning, but he had never touched the alarm. When Sasuke had failed to rouse at his usual time, Itachi had not wanted to play mother and wake him up; it would bring back memories best left forgotten.

Folding the dish towel into a perfect square, Itachi tried to think lighter thoughts.

'_I wonder when he will realize that all of his hair gel is missing?'_

xxx

Sasuke checked his wristwatch for the seventh time in the past minute to find that is was, in actuality, still 10:17. The school was within sight, but even he knew better than to waltz through the front entrance despite the fact that he had never been late to school before (Naruto had a tendency to blather on about his daily life under the false impression that Sasuke actually _cared_). He coolly made his way around the back, bypassing the football and track fields. He entered through the gym's back door and was cautiously making his way to the main door when the lights flicked on. He paused, bending low enough to hide his figure behind the basketball bin.

"Okay team, just wait here, I'll be back soon and we'll start warming up. You know the drill; use the change rooms if you want to get ready and, by all means, feel free to use the gym to actually _practice_ instead of goofing off like you usually do!" a gruff tone ordered. Sasuke could hear the sound of many sneakers squeaking against the gymnasium floor, the rowdy chatter of what seemed to be teenage boys echoing through the spacious room. He frowned.

'_Did we have a game scheduled for today? I would have remembered…'_

The noise level dulled as the boys' change room's door kept swinging on its hinges. The room emptied except for four or five by Sasuke's guess. He tensed as footsteps approached his hiding place, but the person just grabbed a basketball and then faced away, obviously not paying much attention to his surroundings.

There was the dull sound of the basketball hitting the floor and bouncing up again; the person seemed to be dribbling. Then the change room door squeaked again and the dribbling stopped, quickly followed by a sound Sasuke knew well from basketball practice; the sound of rubber against flesh.

"OW! What the hell?" came a voice from the change room door.

"Sorry Zaku-_chan_, didn't see you there; not used to having you actually show up to games against the Leaf," was the sarcastic apology from the person near Sasuke.

'_Zaku? From New Years? Didn't Naruto say he was from the Oto's basketball team? But I've never seen him when we played them…'_

The boy, Zaku, didn't respond verbally, but it seemed that his expression was quite the sight, since there was a chuckle from nearby.

"Hah, look at how red his face is. I think you pissed him off, Jirobu," said another voice mockingly, "Hey kid, make yourself useful and pass the ball here."

It was said quite lightly, but by the sound of Zaku's hurried movements, the order wasn't to be taken so. "H-Hai, Sakon-sempai, o-or is it Ukon-sempai?" There was a mean chuckle at the younger's confusion, but no answer was given.

Meanwhile, Sasuke snapped to attention. The other names he recognized; they were a part of Sound's killer defensive players nicknamed the 'Sound Five'. A big guy named Jirobu, a pair of twins named Sakon and Ukon, a dark-skinned guy named Kidomaru and the only girl in the entire league, Tayuya. There had been another guy by the name of Kimimaro who had been rumoured to have been scouted by many Universities including Itachi's, but then he had fallen ill and Sasuke didn't know much else about what had happened.

"So what, you're not afraid of the Uchiha kid anymore?" asked another voice, turning Sasuke's attention back to the conversation. He could only assume it was Kidomaru due to its undeniable male quality.

Zaku snorted, seeming to get over his fearful respect of the seniors enough to inject some cockiness into his tone. "As if! Word is he's turned into a total wimp since he got a girlfriend; the guy's totally whipped!"

"Hm, is that so?" Jirobu jeered, clearly not too convinced by the words of the cowardly freshman.

They continued to toss around insults and ill-humoured jokes along with the basketball, but Sasuke wasn't listening anymore, too caught up with his own thoughts.

'_Is that really what people are saying? Am I acting differently lately…that even Oto's heard of it?'_

"Come on, we better change," one of the twins declared with authority before shooting the basketball back into the bin. They slowly joined the rest of their team in the change rooms and once Sasuke was sure the gym was empty he quickly ducked into the hallway, trying to focus on whether or not he should bother going to third period. But still, he was unable to completely dismiss his previous thoughts.

xxx

Deciding that making the last few minutes of third period was definitely not worth it, Sasuke instead headed to his fourth period class. It was mercifully unlocked and unused at the moment, so he took his normal seat and waited. Unfortunately, this gave him the opportunity to revisit the conversation he had eavesdropped on.

'_Could it have been that Zaku was lying to look cool in front of his seniors? That would make sense, but I know for a fact he's never come to a game at Konoha before, apparently his fear of me is that great, so it doesn't make sense that he would suddenly decide to come unless he really did hear rumours about me…but wouldn't I have noticed that my so-called reputation had been suffering? No, Zaku must have been lying.'_

Even as he came to this conclusion, students began to trickle into the room and now that Sasuke was actually making a conscious effort to _not_ ignore every living breathing life form, he was baffled by the changes. They stared, of course they did, and Sasuke was used to that, it was the story of his life, but it was the _way_ they were staring. No longer were they respectful, awed and slightly fearful glances, but curious and incredulous out-right stares. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He had never cared about his 'badass' reputation before, but now that people were beginning to question it…he found himself surprisingly bothered by it.

The rest of the period was spent unproductively until finally the bell rang and Sasuke left for lunch scowling. He entered the cafeteria and was immediately assaulted by hushed whispering, filling his ears like the buzzing of bees. _'How the hell did I ever not notice this?'_

Apparently Sakura's influence could only go so far and once Sasuke's own ascendancy had come into question there was nothing that could quell their voices.

No matter what, Sasuke was determined to be unaffected, determined that he was above such petty high school nonsense. This was obviously not true, but Sasuke was good at lying to himself, or at the very least lying to everyone else, so the bare minimum he would settle for is that no one else should know that he was affected.

For this reason, he walked steadily, head held high, to the table where Hinata was seated and slipped in next to her, ignoring the less-than-warm welcome he received from the other occupants who still refused to get used to his presence though he had been joining them since Valentine's Day. He was now grateful – though not enough to verbalize it – that Sakura and Naruto had followed his lead without skipping a beat that day some weeks ago. They had at least presented a united front – not that Sasuke _cared_ what the rest of the high school population thought.

As if to prove the veracity of this sentiment to himself, Sasuke slipped his hand into Hinata's and gave it reassuring squeeze, partly to alleviate her jittery nerves as she eyed the reactions of the other, very protective, men in her life – Sasuke inwardly grimaced at this, he did not like to _share_ – and partly because he himself needed the calming sensation she always provided him. He smiled down at her and was inexplicably uplifted when she smiled back. Remembering the package his brother had given him that morning, he pulled it out of his pocket and dropped it into her palm, much like his brother had done to him.

"A-Ah, w-what's this, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata stuttered out, surprised and more than a little confused.

"It's a Whites Day present," he told her matter-of-factly, nonchalantly going about eating his lunch.

Hinata seemed stunned by this and quickly blurted out, "Wh-Why?"

He shot her a look from the corner of his eyes as he bit into his rice ball. Chewing slowly, he waited until every last grain of rice was swallowed before answering, just because he enjoyed seeing her squirm and blush as she waited oh-so patiently. "That's kind of how the holiday works," he drawled, loving every moment of his Hinata-torture. Maybe it wasn't healthy – actually scratch that, it _definitely_ wasn't healthy – but Sasuke relished in knowing, and seeing, that he had an effect on her.

"B-But I didn't g-give you any chocolate on V-Valentine's Day! It hardly s-seems fair for y-you to give me a p-present when W-White's Day i-is supposed to be about compensating for the ch-chocolate you received on V-Valentine's Day!" she said, sounding extremely scandalized at the inequality of it all.

Sasuke smirked, this was the other reason he loved frustrating her. Due to her childhood, Hinata had trouble standing up to people and he knew that if anyone else were to hassle her, she would simply back down without a fight. While this worried him to a certain extent, he knew that he would be more than willing to fight _for_ her, so it wasn't an immediate concern. But the fact remained that if it was Sasuke, Hinata was now capable to speak her mind. Her trust in him was growing more and more and Sasuke was beginning to think that he was working his way up to the position of comfort that her childhood friends had. He couldn't explain it, but Sasuke _needed_ that; he _needed_ to be important to her, _needed_ to be worth something in her eyes. She was the first person outside of his family that he had ever actively cared about, going through months of persistence to get to know her, to become close to her.

"You did give me a gift," he said, not even meaning to be cheesy about it because it was the truth. Hinata nervously pecked him on the cheek for his unintentionally sweet words and he couldn't help himself – he rarely could when it concerned Hinata – he blushed.

And then he heard it.

For that brief second the dull buzzing of his schoolmate's voices subsided enough for one voice to ring out clear as a bell; as clear as Zaku's voice bouncing off of the gymnasium walls.

"_Wimp"_

Sasuke stiffened.

Hinata's opinion mattered to him, Sasuke knew that, but somewhere in a far corner of his mind a voice questioned.

'_Is it worth it?'_

Is _she _worth it?

He squeezed her hand tightly, but no amount of calm could ease the anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach.

'_Of course!'_

Of course.

To be Continued?

xxx

**So, anybody else feeling kind of...bereft? It's what I was going for, but even I was surprised when I actually felt that way when I ended it. Hopefully this feeling also overcame you, since that's the whole point. I haven't written anything in ages, so if you feel the emotion I'm trying to convey, I'll at least be relieved to know that my already dismall writing 'chops' haven't gotten any worse.**

**Yeah, Sasuke's got issues. Even in AU. It can't be helped.**

**At least Itachi made another appearance ^_^.**

**So...um...review? Please?**

**Hopefully since it's summer I'll actually be able to finish the next one within 2 weeks as well. Is it too much to hope for that I'll actually catch up to real time by Thanksgiving..?**

**Peace,**

**Midnight's Violet Haze**

**HS**


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